A double-edged sword to force posterior dominance of Hox genes.
Spatially and temporally restricted expression of Hox genes requires multiple mechanisms at both the transcriptional and the post-transcriptional levels. New insight into this precise expression mechanism comes from recent findings of a novel sense-antisense miRNA combination from the bithorax complex of Drosophila melanogaster. These two miRNAs encoded from the same locus target 3' untranslated regions of anterior hox genes, Antp, Ubx and abd-A to establish the dominance of posterior hox gene Abd-B in its expression domain. Such double-edge tools, sense-antisense miRNA combinations, also operate at multiple loci in the genome implicating their wider impact on the post-transcriptional gene regulation in eukaryotes.
Singh
Narendra Pratap
NP
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India.
Mishra
Rakesh K
RK
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D016678:Genome; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000737:chemistry; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000737:chemistry; D013997:Time Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D022661:RNA, Untranslated